RATIONALE: Giving high-dose chemotherapy before an autologous stem cell transplant stops the growth of cancer cells by stopping them from dividing or killing them. An autologous stem cell transplant may be able to replace the blood-forming cells that were destroyed by the chemotherapy.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving busulfan together with cyclophosphamide followed by an autologous stem cell transplant works in treating patients with multiple myeloma.

Number of participants without progressive disease at the end of the study period, using the definitions for complete response, partial response and progressive disease from the International Myeloma Working Group .

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Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00941720